CORRECTION- Following publication last week the Vermont Department of Transportation sent out a press release to announce they will be delaying the work on Bridge 47 on Route 100 South to an unannounced weekend in August. That means Route 100 South will no longer be closed to thru-traffic July 18 to 21. We will keep you updated as more information on the actual closing is received.

WILMINGTON- Anyone looking to make a quick trip south to Jacksonville between July 18 and July 21, may want to plan ahead.

What is now an approximately 5 ½-mile drive down Route 100 will be re-routed by the Vermont Agency of Transportation as a 26 6/10-mile detour through four towns while VTrans works on the replacement of a bridge and culvert on Route 100 south.

The section of Route 100 south that will be effected stretches from the corner of Route 9 and Route 100 to the Jacksonville General Store. While the entirety of the road will not be closed, that section of Route 100 will no longer be a throughway for that weekend.

The road will be closed between 6 pm on Friday, July 18, and 6 am, Monday, July 21. To local residents and commuters, the closure may not pose a substantial problem, as alternative routes through Halifax are available to those who know them. A trip to Jacksonville from the intersection of routes 9 and 100 is approximately the same mileage by taking Shearer Hill Road to Parsons Road and Gates Pond Road. For those who come to the Deerfield Valley via Route 112, the detour will send travelers west to Route 8A and Wilmington via Searsburg, while those looking to reach Jacksonville from Route 9 will need to continue through Wilmington and Searsburg to Route 8A, and on through Readsboro.

According to a press release from VTrans, the bridge will be constructed using their accelerated bridge construction methods, which aim to “expedite construction and reduce disturbance to the public.” The project will replace Bridge 47, a metal pipe arch-culvert constructed in 1949, with a pre-cast concrete box culvert that is just over 6 feet wider than the current 10-foot-8-inch-wide culvert. While the culvert will be wider, its height will shrink by about a foot.

During the construction dates, the MOOver bus will use Shearer Hill Road as a detour to reach Jacksonville. Route 100 is the route used by the Readsboro and Whitingham bus, and according to DVTA General Manager Randy Schoonmaker, those buses that use the detour will see very little effect on their schedules. “ Those people who need to come up to Wilmington and connect with buses to Mount Snow or Brattleboro, or anywhere else, will not miss their connections,” said Schoonmaker. “When the road is closed all connecting buses will wait until the Readsboro bus arrives. Even if they have to run a little late, there will be no missed connections.”